Immortal Encounter
by foreverHenry919
Summary: Henry gets picked up from the river one night by a uni who understands and understands all too well. I do not own "Forever" or any of its characters.
1. Immortal Encounter Ch 1 Leitha

Henry gets picked up from the river one night by a uni who understands and understands all too well.

vvvv

The murky strait called the East River was exceptionally chilly that night as Henry broke through the surface of it, his lungs bursting for air. He loudly took in the first gulp of air, then twisted this way and that in an effort to gain his bearings. The look in his eyes was the remnants of sheer terror mixed with confusion and tired dismay. He'd been crossing the street while walking home from Jo's. He'd heard the screech of tires, saw the headlights too late, and felt the painful impact. As he lay broken and bloody on the street, he remembered the sound of panicked voices and a car speeding away from him while his memories materialized and vanished one after the other. Then darkness. Then the river.

The moonlight reflected in shimmers off of the waters as he began swimming to shore. Once on dry land, the shimmery drops of river water rolled down off of his slim, muscular body. He heaved a deep sigh of resignation in and out, raised his hands, and walked slowly toward a police car already parked near the edge of the shoreline. Its driver side door hung open and the voice of a dispatcher was heard crackling over the radio asking "What's your 20? Over".

The young patrol officer standing near the car kept an eye on Henry while he lifted the microphone to his mouth and depressed the button to reply.

"Unit 23. Dunkin Donuts." (Taking a dump.)

"Wash your hands. Over." (muffled chuckles)

"Copy that. Over. Out."

The young patrol officer hung up the mic and motioned for Henry to lower his hands which he promptly did, covering his private parts again.

"Sleepwalking again, Dr. Morgan?" the officer asked.

"I'm afraid so," the Immortal ME replied sheepishly.

The patrolman, Ofc. Shane McCaster, studied Henry while respectfully keeping his eyes trained on the ME's face. He then walked around and behind a confused Henry, popped the trunk and pulled a large towel and an NYPD sweatsuit from out of it. He closed the trunk and gave the towel to a surprised but grateful Henry. The back door was then opened for him, allowing him the opportunity to dry off and change in privacy. The officer placed the sweatsuit on the back seat next to him and closed the door. He then slid into the driver's seat and started up the car.

"Thank you. I must admit, this is a first for me," Henry admitted.

"Wish it were for me," Shane muttered to himself.

Henry laid the towel aside and quickly dressed, expecting to be driven to the officer's precinct. Instead, the car pulled up in front of an apartment building on Eldridge Street near Roosevelt Park and not far from the antiques shop. "Not running you in this time, Doctor," Shane quietly informed him as he met Henry's confused gaze in the rear view mirror.

"Well ... that's ... a relief," Henry haltingly replied. "But if you were escorting me to my home, this is not it."

"I know," Shane replied. He then got out of the car and opened the back door for Henry to get out, which he did. Once they stood face to face, Shane added, "It's my home. Was hoping that you could help us out with something."

Henry wondered who the "us" exactly was and why he had escaped arrest as he followed the officer into the building and into his cramped, two-bedroom apartment. On the way, Henry had asked what help the officer thought he could be to him.

"It's, uh, really my fiancee who needs the help," Shane replied as they stepped into the apartment. "Babe?" he called out. "Dr. Morgan's here." Not surprised, Henry ruefully concluded that the officer had discussed him on one or more occasions because of his numerous arrests near the East River.

A familiar looking young woman with short, curly black hair and bright blue eyes came down the hallway and joined them in the livingroom. She hesitated for a moment before coming closer to Shane and their guest.

"Hello again, Dr. Morgan," Leitha said.

"Ms. Baxter ... hello," he replied.

Despite the fact that she appeared freshly showered, Henry detected the slight but unmistakeable smell of the river on her.

vvvv

Earlier that same morning ...

Leitha Baxter thanked her lucky stars that she was scheduled to be off that day from her duties as a police officer with the NYPD. She and her fiancee, Shane, had met in the academy and had felt an immediate attraction to each other. They'd been assigned to patrol together after graduation and their love had blossomed into them looking forward to a winter wedding at Disneyworld in the warmer climes of Florida.

Tonight she was to join her family at Sadelle's on West Broadway to celebrate her parents' 30th wedding anniversary dinner. Realizing that she just had to suck it up and attend like nothing was the matter with her life wasn't going to be easy but at least it would be easier than having to report for work and risk being killed again in the line of duty. For that reason, she seriously contemplated resigning from the force, a job she had wanted since the age of 15.

Many thoughts ran through her mind, settling upon one thing. A person, actually. A certain ME who also wound up naked in the East River from time to time after what he attributed to "unfortunate" sleepwalking experiences. So she decided to pay the man a visit at his home. Maybe he wasn't being as truthful as he could be about those naked river runs. While she hoped that the reason behind them were the same as hers, she'd always felt a bit sorry for him because of the obvious humiliation he'd felt at being forced to have his mug shot taken in his birthday suit after those arrests. But, like all of their other colleagues, she thought that his sleepwalking simply pointed to the man needing psychotherapy. Or a hobby. Or a girlfriend. But definitely some pajamas.

That is until she'd been shot and killed near the East River during a routine traffic stop three weeks ago. Fortunately - or unfortunately - a passenger in the front seat had shot her and the driver had raced off in his car, leaving her to bleed out and die in front of her partner and future husband, Shane. The sheer panic on his face when she'd popped up out of the river had mirrored her own. Shivering and suffering mild shock, she'd managed to cover strategic parts of her body as she emerged naked from the river and collapsed sobbing into his arms.

Was the real reason behind the ME's night swims the same as her own? Good God! If he was victimized the same as she was by this, this curse - he had obviously found no way out of it, either. She was thoroughly convinced that he would have done anything to avoid any future humiliation of public nudity and arrests. Several times since that life-altering event three weeks ago, she and her fiancee had discussed approaching the forensics pathologist to get advice, if nothing else.

_"That wound of his over his heart reminds me a lot of yours, honey," Shane told her. "Wish to God you hadn't shielded me with your body." _

_"Then you might be going through this instead of me," she pointed out. _

_"I'd much rather it be me than you!" He swallowed and worked to calm himself before saying, "I'm pretty sure it'll be okay to talk to the doctor about your condition." _

_"What if we're wrong?" Leitha had replied. "He'll think we're both nuts and report us!" _

_"No. I'm sure he won't," Shane assured her. _

_"How can you be so sure?" she asked, doubtful. _

_"Because I did some checking up on him. You won't believe what I found." _

vvvv

Abe sized up the dark-haired young woman with bright blue eyes entering the shop, deciding that she wasn't there to buy anything. He smiled, patting himself mentally on the back when she said she was here to speak with Dr. Henry Morgan.

"He went to the bakery around the corner but should be back in a few minutes," Abe informed her. He'd actually gone to pick up some of Abe's favorite donut holes after having lost a bet based on the fact that he'd lost only his second game of chess ever to his son. Abe's inward smile lessened a bit when he picked up on the woman's mild anxiety. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"No," Leitha quickly replied. "I need to speak with Dr. Morgan." Then she realized that she hadn't introduced herself. "Sorry, my name is Leitha Baxter. I'm with the NYPD."

"He's not under arrest, is he?" Abe asked, wondering if his dad had run into a problem but had been unable to contact him.

"No, nothing like that," she replied, a slight smile finally breaking across her face. "I'm off duty today. Just wanted to ask him a few questions about ... something."

"Well, you're welcome to wait in here," Abe told her, motioning to the room behind him. She at first refused, saying that she didn't want to be a bother. "No bother," he assured her and ushered her into the room. She smiled again and sat down in the straight back chair near Henry's desk.

"Oh, uh, help yourself to any of the drinks or snacks in the small fridge in the corner." He returned to man the retail counter. It was best that she remain out of sight with that pinched look on her face and not freak out any potential customers. The shop's bell tinkled and he raised his eyes up toward the entry door.

"Henry!" he called to his father quickly before he could say anything. "You've got a visitor." He met Henry's raised brow with his furrowed brow and motioned toward the room behind him. "She's in there."

"Jo?" Henry asked expectantly as he walked behind the counter toward the room.

"Not Jo," Abe replied flatly. "But she is a cop."

Henry lowered his brows and his eyes darted back and forth before pursing his lips. He walked into the small room used by Abe as an office and by him as a study and saw Leitha nursing a can of ginger ale. "I'm Dr. Morgan," he said. "You're here to see me?"

She rose slowly from her seat and opened her mouth to speak but a sob escaped as her face crumpled into sorrow. Henry quickly moved to her side and eased her back down into the chair.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Morgan," she sobbed, covering her face. "It's been so hard keeping everything in all this time."

Henry and Abe exchanged a look of confusion but decided that it was best to continue the conversation upstairs in a more private setting.

"Has this ever happened to you, Doctor?" Leitha asked as she seated herself on the sofa in the living area.

Unwilling to disclose anything about his condition to her, Henry attempted a reply without really answering her question. "My ... wanderings into the river from time to time are well known to the NYPD because of my somnambulism."

Leitha smirked. "Hate to break the news to you, Doctor, but nobody believes that sleepwalking crap. There's something else going on with you, isn't there?" She sat forward in her seat on the sofa and looked him directly in the eyes. "You're like me, aren't you?"

"Like you? Why, whatever do you mean, Ms. Baxter?" Henry asked, endeavoring to remain calm while doing his best to feign innocence.

"I think you know exactly what I mean," she replied accusingly. "Just like me, you have died and wound up alive again in the East River. Naked but alive and healed." She watched his reaction for any sign that her words struck a nerve. He did look startled but that could be because what she was telling him was too fantastical to be true. Had she been mistaken? Was it a mistake for her to have come here?

Henry rose from his chair and walked over to her. "Ms. Baxter. What you are saying is ... unbelievable." It was unbelievable. But he couldn't disclose anything to her. She could be deranged. Or sent by Adam to taunt him. And still be deranged. She could also be a reporter trying to get a story out of him on a slow news day. Even if what she was telling him was true, that she had only recently transformed from being mortal to being an Immortal, it was clear that it had - understandably - upset her greatly. How much more upset would she become if he admitted to her that he had no answers for her?

"I wish I could help you," he told her. "I sincerely do. But I can't." That was the definite truth.

Leitha had left the shop, clearly still upset. "What if she was telling the truth, Pops?" Abe asked.

"She certainly appeared to be credible," he admitted, his eyes tracing the path of her footsteps after she'd left. But he then ticked off some reasons why he'd chosen not to disclose anything to her.

Henry took in a breath and blew it out through puffed cheeks. "If she is telling the truth, only time will tell." Meaning, their paths might eventually cross one day or night while emerging from the river. "At this point in my life, I only trust you and Jo with my secret." With that, he went upstairs to freshen up for his date with Jo.

About an hour later, he left the shop and took a cab to Join Jo and her family at a roller skating rink to celebrate her nephew's eighth birthday. It was the most fun the young Immortal had had in years. Not since roller skating with young Abe in the 50s had he had so much fun. And he'd easily found his balance again, managing to avoid either a collision with others or an embarrassing spill. The laughter that had rang out from him was also the most heart felt and the loudest he'd experienced in decades. He counted himself amongst the luckiest people alive, yes, alive, to have a son like Abe and a woman like Jo in his life. Naturally, he trusted both of them with his secret, but he also trusted both of them to help him to live again. To not only experience but to seek out the good things that life had to offer to everyone. Even to the likes of someone like him, who had more time than most to enjoy them.

Later, during some alone time with Jo at her Washington Heights home, he told her about his visit earlier from Leitha Baxter.

"Wow," she replied, blinking and somewhat awed. "What if she is, Henry? Wouldn't that be great? A nice Immortal to be friends with instead of that creepo Adam."

"Jo, I have no idea if she is or is not," he told her. "As I pointed out to Abe, she could simply be trying to get information out of me for her own nefarious reasons. What if she's really from IA or worse, a pawn sent by Adam or someone from the government?" He shook his head and delivered an emphatic "No!" and that he only trusted her and his son.

"Okay, okay, calm down," she said, stroking the back of his head down to his neck a few times. Her touch served to calm him and he closed his eyes, breathing deeply in and out. He lolled his head around as her fingers played lightly at the curls at the nape of his neck. She pulled closer to him and breathed a sigh of a question into his ear. "On a, um, pleasure level of 1 to 10, how do you feel now?"

Smiling, he opened his eyes and lifted his arm up and brought it down around her, hugging her even closer to him. "Mmm, I'd say a clear 8 but (he kissed her gently on the lips) I'm sure we can (he kissed her again, deeper) raise that to a 10." He pulled her over onto his lap and they wrapped their arms around each other enjoying an even deeper, longer kiss. "A 10 or better," he breathlessly added and she breathlessly agreed as they temporarily forgot Paris and got lost in each other.

vvvv

Back at Leitha's and Shane's apartment ...

The entire day, the whole week, had been an enjoyable time up until he'd gotten hit by that blasted motor car! Not only had he wound up in the 'drink' again but he'd been taken into custody, of sorts, by a uniformed patrolman who understood his unique problem all too well. Standing face to face with another possible Immortal unnerved him enough. Depending on what he said next could determine his own fate and his continued ability to remain in New York with Jo and his son.

"We met earlier at the shop," he said. She nodded. "You doubted that sleepwalking has caused me to wind up ... unclothed ... in the East River sometimes." She nodded again, anxiously awaiting for him to confirm her suspicions about the both of them. "What if I told you ... that you were correct?"

Both she and Shane shared a gleeful grin and became more animated. "I knew it!" Shane exclaimed while she closed her eyes and covered her mouth and nose with both hands.

"I said 'what if'?" Henry emphasized. "What if you are correct? I'm not saying that you are. What would you do with that information?" His eyes darted from one to the other.

Shane pulled up a chair and quickly sat down next to Leitha at the small kitchen table. He motioned for Henry to sit in the chair between them. Only then did he become aware of his rigid stance. He relaxed a bit but was still prepared to fight his way past the both of them to get out of there, if need be.

"We would be honored to take you into our confidence," Shane began, "and get some advice from you on how to deal with this, this dying and rebirthing phenomenon."

"Of course, we wouldn't tell anyone about you, Dr. Morgan," Leitha assured him. "You don't have to worry about that." Her gaze met his and slowly lowered as he sat down in the chair. "You are like me."

Henry rested his elbows on the table and swallowed as he looked down at his clasped hands. He then lifted his head and looked directly at her. "Yes, I am. I am Immortal."

"Immortal." Leitha tested the word in a whisper, sitting back in her chair. She blinked as her eyes moved back and forth with her hands covering her mouth and nose again.

Shane eyed Henry warily then gulped before saying, "Immortal means the person never dies." He motioned toward Leitha and said, "She died! She dies!"

"But she comes back," Henry reminded him. "In the river. Alive and whole again. Same as I do." He found himself to be feeling shamelessly brave in discussing his condition with practical strangers. There was something in their eyes that spoke to a loss of innocence that was all too familiar to him after he'd spent many hours staring into his own reflection after his own transformation. Staring and wondering how and why this change had been thrust upon him. Staring and wondering how to cope since he apparently now faced eternity. An eternity of unwanted experiences to come, creating many more memories than he felt one person was entitled to. An eternity of questions with no answers as to how to end this never-ending life. An eternity that pushed him further and further away from the chance to cross over to another plane of existence.

"I'm ... an Immortal?" Leitha asked Henry. "Why? What am I supposed to do with that? Get a costume and run around helping people like Wonder Woman? Oh. I forgot. Wonder Woman and Superwoman have powers. I'm just a nobody, who's gonna be stuck like this. Forever."

Henry lowered his eyes to his clasped hands again while she ranted. Not at him, he knew. At the universe or whatever quirk of nature or powerful being had chosen to choose her to endure this long way of living. He'd done it himself more than once over the past 200 years of his unwilling existence. Shane stood up with intentions to go over and calm his fiancee. Henry caught his eye and motioned with both hands for him not to. Concerned and frustrated, Shane did as Henry silently suggested and sat back down.

In a lowered voice, Henry leaned over to him and whispered, "You asked for my help. My advice." He glanced at Leitha pacing and ranting on the other side of the table and back at Shane. "My advice is to let her get it out. It most likely won't change anything for her but ... " He paused to take in a breath and gather his words. "I've always found it most cathartic to be able to indulge in a tirade. Especially in the beginning. Let her have hers."

Shane sat back in his chair and pressed his lips together as he watched Leitha, who appeared to have finally calmed down a bit. Henry tilted his head slightly as he watched her sit back down, a look of painful resignation on her face. "After one of my, ah, awakenings," he began in a louder voice addressing them both, "I find it helpful to consume a decadent treat."

"Uh, you mean like ... well, we have some glazed donut holes in the fridge," Shane suggested uncertainly. He quickly rose from his seat and retrieved the bag from the fridge. "Want me to warm 'em up in the microwave first?" he asked Leitha.

"No, just give 'em to me," a now smiling Leitha told him, wriggling the fingers of one hand at the bag. He brought them over to her and she took the bag and opened it, popping two into her mouth. She closed her eyes and moaned, her cheeks puffed out as she chewed. "You're right, Dr. Morgan - this hits the spot." She swallowed and popped two more into her mouth. As she chewed, her brows knitted slightly. She swallowed and put the bag down on the table, then placed both hands on her waist. Looking up at Henry, she said, "I don't have to worry about my weight anymore, do I?"

Both men chuckled at that. "Babe, I keep telling you that there's nothing wrong with your size. You're just fine," Shane told her.

"And I'll stay fine," she told him, grinning. "Forever." All three of them laughed louder and she continued to consume the entire two dozen donut holes.

Shane popped the top off of a bottle of beer and plunked it down in front of Henry. "None for me," he reminded Henry. "Still on duty."

Henry nodded and lifted the beer to his lips and took a swig. "Blueberry scones," he said as he twisted the bottle around to look at the label. He dipped his head in Leitha's direction as she balled up the now empty bag that had contained the donut holes. Shane chuckled and nodded.

vvvv

Shane's police car pulled up to the antiques shop just as Abe walked up. He'd been to a private, late-night estate auction open to dealers and traders at the home of a former governor. When he saw his father not only emerge from the police car in an NYPD-issued sweatsuit but shake hands with the cop, Abe couldn't believe it. The car drove away and Henry walked up to join Abe at the shop's entrance. Abe unlocked the door and they both walked in. Abe locked the door and peered out of the glass door to see the car's tail lights disappearing. Turning to his father, he pocketed his keys and put his fists on his hips.

"Okay. What happened?" Abe asked.

"I'll tell you all about it in the morning," Henry promised. "Right now, I'm bushed and need to get to bed."

"Oh, c'mon, you're getting private limo service now from the cops? And you're wearing NYPD sweats and acting all buddy-buddy with your arresting officer? You're gonna tell me something now," Abe demanded.

"Hmmm. Fair enough," Henry said with a grin. "The young woman who visited us earlier claiming to be Immortal, well ... " he paused while Abe nodded anxiously for him to finish. "I believe her."

Notes:

Radio dispatch jargon found on several sites including wikipedia; Caissa's Web; and .


	2. Immortal Encounter Ch 2 Vigilante

_"The young woman who visited us earlier claiming to be an Immortal, well ... " Henry paused while Abe nodded anxiously for him to finish. "I believe her." _

vvvv

The next morning Abe picked up the conversation from the night before when Henry was too tired to elaborate on his belief that NYPD Officer Leitha Baxter was also an Immortal.

"You're kidding!" Abe whispered in astonishment. "A-and you have proof." He asked, leaning forward on one arm, his eyes widened.

"Mmm, more of a gut instinct," his father replied. After checking the time on his pocket watch, he snapped it shut and tucked it back into his pocket. He rose from his chair at the breakfast table and took his coat off of the coat rack, arming into it.

"Well ... as long as she hasn't taken a bite outta the crazy cake like Adam," Abe said, "guess it's okay to be friends with her. I mean, you can finally have a friend. For life."

Henry paused momentarily then resumed adjusting his scarf. "Possibly. She and her fiancee, Ofc. McCaster, wish to engage me as a consultant, of sorts."

"Because you've been banging around a little longer than she has," Abe said, his arms crossed. Henry lowered his head and leveled a reproachful look at him. "You gonna take the job?"

"Abe, there's ... really nothing very useful that I can share with her, other than how and where to get a fake ID or passport."

"Oh, you could teach her how to lie to people who care about you," Abe proposed, rapidly blinking his eyes.

"Abe ... "

"Teach her how to bend everybody's ear with lectures," Abe continued, "instead of with the truth."

"Jo knows about me, Abraham!" Henry strongly reminded him. "You and Jo. That's all," he said with a swipe of his hand through the air.

"And them," Abe added. He unfolded his arms and left his chair to stand beside his father. "Look, Dad, I'm willing to help and I'm sure that Jo would be, too. You're not alone in this."

Henry hesitated for a moment, then wrapped his scarf around his neck. Rather than voice any further negative thoughts to his son, he merely nodded with the barest of smiles and left for the morgue.

Once at work, Henry dove into finishing up some reports that had piled up after his unfortunate demise by car a few days ago. He felt as though he was being watched and looked up from his tasks to see Ofc. Leitha standing in the middle of his office - in civilian clothes- and Lucas standing just outside the doorway with an apologetic but curious look on his face. Henry made eye contact with Lucas, raising a hand to him to let him know everything was all right.

"Ofc. Baxter," Henry began, motioning to the two chairs facing his desk. "Won't you have a seat?" She thanked him and sat down in the one nearest the wall to his left. "I assume you're off duty today. How can I help you?" he asked her.

"I'm not off duty," she told him, an anxious eagerness in her eyes. "I've resigned from the force." Surprised, he didn't respond before she asked, "Is that a good thing?"

"Ah ... I cannot answer that question for you," he replied. "As long as you are sure that this is what you want, that's what matters."

"But you know so much more about ... " She paused, looking over her shoulder at the open doorway. "About these things, about living this way," she whispered, waving her hand over herself.

Henry peered over her shoulder into the morgue beyond his office doorway. When he saw Lucas at the far end of the morgue near the files, he breathed easier, feeling that no one was within earshot of their conversation. He leaned forward over his paperwork and looked her directly in the eyes. "This is not the place for this type of discussion, Ms. Baxter," he whispered. "Never come to my office with these types of questions. People ... others ... simply won't understand."

"Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, I understand. Sorry." Her eyes darted back and forth as she nervously rose from her chair and Henry did likewise. "You're right. I was just so excited because there are all these ideas forming in my mind about what I should do with ... this," she said, waving her hand over herself again.

"Well, that's ... very nice," he awkwardly told her. He hoped that she didn't take offense that he was ushering her out of his office. But he had to get her out of there. Quickly. "Call the shop if you need to speak with me. I am available to meet with you after work hours." She nodded eagerly and he resisted the urge to do the same.

"Okay. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. I'll see you tonight." She smiled broadly and kissed him on the cheek with a loud smack. She then turned and walked out of the morgue, exchanging a polite nod with a wide-eyed Jo. Leitha breezed past Lucas as he buried his nose in a file pretending that he hadn't seen that kiss or Jo's reaction.

Who was this chick slobbering all over the Doc right in front of Det. Martinez? Lucas asked himself. He stole a few furtive glances at Jo, her hands on her hips as she slowly approached an embarrassed Henry struggling to display as innocent a smile as he could. This could get ugly, Lucas thought, so he dropped the file back into its slot and shoved the drawer shut. He then ducked out of the morgue to give them some privacy. Or save himself from seeing his boss get whacked by his girlfriend.

"Sooo, what exactly did I just see?" Jo asked Henry. She was now standing face-to-face with him thinking to herself how cute he looked when he thought he was in trouble. He knitted his brow and puffed his cheeks out as he quickly turned around and walked back to his desk.

"Nothing ... just ... the young woman's way of expressing her appreciation for my advice," he told her as he spread his arms up and out.

"Hmmm, must have been some awfully good advice," she teased.

Henry pressed his lips together and leveled a look at her then he sighed and sat back down in his chair. "She told me that she resigned from the force because she has all of these - ideas in her head regarding her ... situation," he told her with a roll of his eyes.

"Well, at least she won't have to risk being, um, hurt anymore in the line of duty," Jo pointed out.

Henry leaned back in his chair and scoffed. "Something tells me that my association with her is not going to be an easy one. She already appears to suffer from a bit of hero worship."

"Lucas has COM-pany," Jo remarked, grinning. Henry shook his head and pushed his eyebrows up. "Well, if it's any consolation," she began, "I totally understand their fascination with you." That garnered a chuckle out of him. Jo began to leave then asked, "Oh, what is this about her seeing you tonight?"

"Ah, no," Henry replied, dropping his smile. "Nothing is getting in the way of our movie night tonight."

"Well, I just hope your 'association' with her doesn't produce an all-too-familiar side effect."

"Side effect?" he asked, frowning in confusion.

"Abraham-us Interrupt-us," she dryly replied.

vvvv

Two months later ...

"Oh, Henry, this has got to stop!" an exasperated Jo told Henry. "That woman is disrupting all of our lives and getting on my last nerve! If she doesn't stop hauling perps into the precinct on flimsy charges like jaywalking, I'm gonna out her. Right there in front of everyone!"

"Jo, the jaywalker attacked her. The charge was actually assault and battery," he replied.

"_After_ she attacked the so-called jaywalker," Jo pointed out. "The woman said she stepped off the curb to look down the street to see if her bus was coming."

Henry heaved a big sigh. "I am not defending Leitha's actions only reminding you of her ... good intentions."

"Oh, so, it's Leitha now," Jo said. "Not Ms. Baxter." Before Henry could reply, she warned, "Well, she can just take her 'good intentions' and shove 'em up her - "

"Jo!"

"I'm with Jo," Abe scowled his concurrence as he placed the main dinner entree in the center of the kitchen table. He sat down and said, "When I first found out about her, I thought it would be a good thing for you, Dad, to have a forever friend who wasn't mean and ugly like Adam." He dished up some bouillabaisse into a bowl and passed it to Jo on his left, who passed it to Henry. "But she's turning out to be as much of a pain in the ass as he was. Pardon my French," he said, nodding slightly to Jo and unfolding his napkin, placing it on his lap.

"The last straw was when she tried to corner Lieu in Walmart for not buying a ten-cent grocery bag," Jo sighed out, shaking her head.

Both men turned a startled eye to her. "Lt. Reece? Wh-when was this?" Henry stammered out.

"Day before yesterday," Jo replied grimly. "Said she knew who Lieu was but that she wasn't going to receive special treatment."

"Bet your boss was boilin' mad," Abe chortled. "Did she shoot her?"

"No, Abe," Jo chuckled. She sighed heavily then added, "I just might, though. And it wouldn't be murder - exactly - because she always comes back," Jo reasoned.

"Still murder, Jo," Henry murmured. "Look," he said louder, "I'll have another talk with her."

"Better make it fast," Jo warned him again. "Let her know that I know where she lives and I'm still a cop."

"I know where she lives, too," Abe dryly remarked before biting into a large, scrumptious shrimp. "Let her know that I don't like anybody messin' with my old man."

vvvv

Later on that afternoon ...

Henry stood in the apartment of Ofc. Shane McCaster, his lips pursed and his brow crinkled as he watched Shane pace back and forth in front of him.

"She's even made herself an outfit," Shane bemoaned as he paced to the left of Henry with his fists shoved against his hips.

"You mean a uniform?" Henry asked.

"No! A costume!" Shane loudly repeated. "It's got a giant "I" on the front of it."

"An ... eye like ... " Henry pointed to his eyes.

Shane grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down the hallway into their bedroom. He released Henry and yanked open the closet door and snatched a piece of clothing on a hanger from out of it. He held up the garment to himself and pointed to the front of it. "A giant "I" for Immortal!" Henry groaned and braced himself against the dresser. Shane tossed the garment onto the bed and glowered at it.

"It's all she talks about now," he rasped. "What good she's going to do in the world. How it's better for her that she's not a cop anymore because all we did was arrest people, not help them. She's obsessed!" He looked over at Henry and moved closer to him. "And obsessed with you," he hissed. "I brought you into our lives because I thought you could help since you're ... experienced with this thing."

"This thing, as you call it, is a never-ending existence," Henry pointed out. "Neither of us asked for it and all I have ever tried to do is give her the best advice I could on how to deal with it. From the beginning, I told you that I had no pat answers for coping with our conditions." He looked over at the costume lying on the bed and asked, "Has she been wearing that in public?"

"No," Shane replied. "Said she has to first have more made in case ... you know, it'll disappear whenever she ... she ... God! I don't know how to deal with this anymore!" Shane ran his hands through his dark blonde hair carefully groomed to departmental standards. He walked away from Henry and wearily lowered himself to the bed. "I ... I still love her. But she doesn't even want to discuss our wedding plans anymore. She's even gone so far as to say that it might be better for me if I gave up on her." He glared at Henry again. "That only someone else with her condition could understand her and endure with her."

_'Oh, crap!' _Henry thought to himself. Just what he needed. "Has she ... " He paused, searching for the right words. "Has she experienced any other rebirths since we first met?"

"Yeah, a couple of times," Shane replied. "I managed to get to her before she could get hooked by someone else. But she's convinced that she has to be some kind of vigilante now." Shane shook his head. "Lei won't listen to me anymore. Keeps saying that I don't understand all the dynamics of it (immortality). Well, she doesn't understand that she's killin' me with all this vigilante stuff." A mirthless laugh left him. "And I can't turn her in because it would not only expose her but you, too."

Henry began to notice the dark circles under the young man's eyes most likely from lack of sleep brought on by worry, frustration, and anger. Lots of anger over the unfairness of the upheaval in their lives. It brought back painful memories of how his son, Abraham, looked while trying desperately to deal with him as he'd selfishly committed suicide over and over during the many dark months after Abigail's disappearance in the early 1980s. Knowing that Shane was going through what Abraham had, caused shame to once again wash over him. Although still jealously guarding his privacy, he felt it necessary to try to get Leitha to understand what she was doing to her fiancee, Shane.

Notes:

Slight references to "Forever" TV show S01/E19 Punk Is Dead and E21 The Night in Question.


	3. Immortal Encounter Ch3 Leitha Gets It

The next day the call had come in about a body in the elevator at The Clemente apartment building near 18th and Suffolk. The body turned out to be an 83-year-old female tenant. Her groceries had spilled out from the bag and were all over the floor of the elevator. Henry tentatively named the COD as heart failure. While her body was being taken out of the building, Henry and Lucas noticed one of the gawkers behind the yellow crime scene tape.

"Say, isn't that Ofc. Baxter?" Lucas asked Henry.

"_Former_ Ofc. Baxter," Henry quietly corrected him while keeping his eyes on the body as it was loaded into the morgue van. "Yesterday, she informed me that she'd resigned from the force."

"Excuse me, Dr. Morgan," one of the unis addressed him. "The woman over there (he pointed to an eager Leitha waving a hand at him) asked me to give you this note." He held it out to Henry, who reluctantly accepted it. "She said it's important to the case." The uni tipped his hat and returned to his duties of keeping gawkers behind the crime scene tape.

Henry then charged Lucas with accompanying the body to the morgue. "I'll see you back there, hopefully, before noon."

Lucas darted his eyes between Henry and Leitha before climbing into the back of the van. He closed the doors and the van drove off. Henry ignored her while he waited for Jo and Hanson to come out of the building even though seeing the growing disappointment on her face. He hated treating her this way but she had shown more than once that she had not yet learned to speak discreetly in public about their conditions.

Jo and Hanson eventually emerged from the building. The three made eye contact and he flicked his head over to Leitha. Jo looked over at her and then rolled her eyes as she walked down the stairs to stand in front of Henry.

"Looks like your one-woman fan club over there," Hanson joked to Henry. "Say, what's with her, anyway?" he asked. "I thought you were weird, Doc, but she's really off the rails. Guess that's why she quit the force."

"I suppose I should thank you, Detective, for that left-handed compliment," Henry replied. "But I won't." Jo and Hanson both smirked. "Let's try to ignore her for right now," Henry said with a sigh. "We've more important things to keep us busy."

Jo's gaze settled on the note in his hand. "What does _this_ one say?"

He reluctantly opened the note and read part of it, narrowing his eyes as he clenched his jaw before folding it back up and shoving it into his coat pocket.

"Another big tip?" Jo asked scornfully.

"Jo, she's going through something right now," Henry reminded her as she and Hanson walked over and got into her car. He chastised himself for not being able to keep a lid on his growing annoyance with the young woman. He remembered all too well how frightened and confused he had been those first few years after his own transformation and all the mistakes he had made and continued to make because of it.

"You coming?" she asked him, ignoring his reminder about Leitha's problem.

He shook his head, telling her that he thought it best to try to speak with Leitha. Jo nodded, biting her lower lip, and drove away. He then walked slowly over to a beaming Leitha. He nodded to the uni near them and raised up the yellow tape, allowing her to duck under it and stand in front of him.

"My note," she told him breathlessly. "It's about the perp responsible for that poor woman's death," she gleefully whispered. Henry pulled her away from the rest of the crowd over to the empty spot where the morgue van had been parked.

"There is no perp other than perhaps heart failure," he told her in a lowered voice.

"But I saw her go in right behind that poor lady without putting her own code in," Leitha protested. "Then, only a few moments later, she ran out and jumped into one of those little smashed up cars, a smart car, you know, and drove up the street," she said, pointing to the right of the building.

"Heart failure," Henry strongly repeated. "And how is it that you knew to be here in the first place?"

"Police scanner," she timidly admitted. Henry eyed her for a moment, his lips pursed, then began walking away from her. But she followed him, explaining, "There's been robberies committed by at least three people around here. That woman I saw fits the description of one of them."

"That still doesn't explain why you were here at that precise moment," he pointed out to her. "If your goal is to fight crime, you should have retained your position as a law enforcement officer," he chastised her. "This vigilantism has quickly earned you an unsavory reputation with the NYPD."

She waved a hand and said, "They think I'm a nuisance, I know that. But they'll eventually get it that I'm only here to help."

"You know what they think of you and you still - ?" He sighed and shook his head. "At least you're not wearing that ridiculous outfit you made." He resisted sighing again and after a few moments of silence, asked her again how she knew to be there at the time of the alleged assault.

"I decided to stake this area out," she replied, energized again. "Try to nip things in the bud. I was ... a little late, though, for the poor old lady. Didn't realize what had happened until it had happened. And that woman got away." Henry closed his eyes and rubbed his fingers across his forehead. "But I have a description of the perp and a partial license plate." Her eyes dropped to his pocket and he pulled out the note again.

"All right," he conceded after reading all of it. "I'll see that this gets to the detectives working the case. But please," he begged her, "promise me that you'll go home now and don't turn that blasted scanner on tonight. Or any night."

"They'll want to question me," she protested. "I'm a witness."

"Not to any actual crime," he pointed out. "They know where to reach you if they need to speak with you." The eagerness on her face gave over to disappointment. "Now, please; go home."

vvvv

The 11th Precinct later on that afternoon ...

Jo and Mike, having acted upon information in the note Leitha had given to Henry, found themselves in the small but stylish Stanton Avenue apartment of Daneika Carter just four blocks away from the crime scene. After they'd informed her of the reason for their visit, she was visibly upset but managed to maintain control of her emotions.

"Mrs. Applegate was a frequent passenger in my car," she told them.

"You drive for Uber or Lyft?" Mike asked.

"No, I'm an independent contractor driving for myself," she replied. "Mrs. Applegate never said much but seemed like a nice lady. Sorry to hear about her passing."

"Yeah," Mike began, "but we're not sure if she had a little help doing that or not."

"You mean ... me? Hurt her? Never!" Daneika loudly replied. "Why would I want to hurt a nice old lady like that? She reminds me of my own mother, God rest her soul."

"We, um, have a witness who saw you enter her apartment building with her and leave only moments before her body was discovered," Jo told her.

"Well ... so." Daneika looked from one to the other. "I followed her in so that I could help her get her groceries into her apartment. But she got a text from a nearby pharmacy that her refill was ready and she asked me to go pick it up for her. I told her I would but that I had another couple of runs to make first. She told me to bring it over later this evening ... " Daneika's voice trailed off and she looked more sorrowful as she realized something.

"That was her heart medication. She needed it sooner than that, didn't she?" Daneika grabbed her purse on the couch next to her and opened it, rummaging through it until she produced a small, white bag and opened it. She pulled out a small bottle of nitroglycerin pills and held it out to Jo, who was careful to handle it with a blue glove. "She must have needed these pills and I didn't get them to her soon enough."

Jo examined the label on the outside of the bottle and nodded confirmation to Mike. "We'll need to keep these," she told Daneika, who nodded mutely and handed her the bag with the receipt and the medication's instructions inside of it. "Don't go far, Ms. Carter," Jo told her before she and Mike left. "We may need to question you further."

vvvv

In the OCME, Henry shared his initial findings on Mrs. Applegate with Jo and Mike. Heart failure, he maintained.

"So, the medication stopped working for her," Mike suggested.

"Yes and no," Henry replied. "Her refills may have been picked up each time they were ready, but there should have been more in her system if she'd consumed it all. I would estimate that less than half ever went into her system."

"For ... for how long?" Jo asked, incredulous. She'd heard of elderly people foregoing even purchasing their prescriptions or refills because of lack of funds. Either that or they stretched them out by taking half or only a third of their medication because it was so expensive. Especially heart pills.

"I would say ... approximately two, maybe three months," Henry somberly speculated.

"What was she doing with the pills she didn't take?" Mike asked. "Selling them?"

"There was no stash or large sums of money found in her home," Jo said. "Daneika Carter said that she picked up the victim's latest refill. Maybe it wasn't the only time." She and Mike realized that they had to find out more from Daneika and get a warrant to get the pharmacy to release information about the victim's refills and who picked them up. More than that, if the victim had not been ingesting the medicine as prescribed by her doctor, what had happened to the extra pills? She whipped out her cell phone as she and Mike left the morgue.

vvvv

"Ohhh, I hate to admit it but Leitha was right this time in a big way," Jo moaned. "Thanks to the information she gave us, we were able to break up that opioid gang Daneika Carter was a part of. Imagine coercing elderly people into paying for their rides and errands with their medications."

"Yes, and according to Carter, she and her gang were able to then stockpile and sell the meds after doling out just a smidgeon to the victims. Just as I suspected," Mike said.

"Their elderly victims found themselves in a very sad situation," Reece lamented. "Carter and her cohorts could probably have contributed to not only Mrs. Applegate's death but who knows how many others." After a moment, she said, "Inform Dr. Morgan that if his little talk with our problem child does not produce the desired results, I'll be very happy to try my hand at it again. The first time, I held back. But if this time it won't be pretty."

Jo and Mike watched her walk away and into her office. They exchanged an uh-oh look and took their seats behind their respective desks. Mike twitched his eyebrows up at Jo and dipped his head toward her desk phone. She sighed resignedly and picked up the receiver and called Henry's office phone and got voicemail but she relayed Reece's message to him.

While Jo was leaving a message on his office voicemail, Henry was sipping tea with Leitha in the kitchen of the apartment she shared with Shane. He had tried for the past half hour to convince her to ramp her activities down for not only hers but everyone else's sakes. So far, he felt he was getting nowhere with her. It was time for the kid gloves to come off.

"Tell me, Ms. Baxter - "

"Leitha. Why are you always so formal with me?" she asked, interrupting him. "You and I are the same. Soul mates."

Henry hesitated a moment. "Young lady," he said, in an effort to maintain a professional distance from her. "Have you given any thought to what you would do if your secret was uncovered?"

She hesitated before replying, her eyes moving back and forth and the sparkle of gleeful eagerness dimming a bit in her eyes. "No. Not, not really."

"Do you care if that happens?"

"Yes!" She sighed and said, "Of course, I do."

"Then that ridiculous costume of yours," he said. "You do understand that it can only attract attention to you, unwanted attention. You could be placing your life, your freedom in jeopardy."

"I'd just ... kill myself in order to escape," she reasoned.

"No. Not always would you be able to do that," he told her. "Someone could hold you prisoner with either forcible restraints or by threatening those close to you. Does the wellbeing of anyone else matter to you?"

"I, I have family. And, and Shane," she stammered. "Shane understands, though, that he and I would not be a good mix. He's mortal and ... he should find someone like himself to live his life with." She lowered her eyes to her tea cup. "He'll just grow old like normal people and leave me behind. I'll be left ... stuck here ... like this." She raised her eyes to meet his gaze again. "You were married before. It had to be painful for you at the end of your relationship."

"Yes," he replied. "It was. Very painful. Beyond measure. But I wouldn't change a thing. The joy my wife and child brought me was well worth the pain. Everyone experiences the pain of loss. Believe me, I know from experience that bearing those burdens alone is the worst way to live."

"It's been too hard on Shane," she contended.

"Because you, yourself have not handled it well," Henry pointed out. "I know from personal experience about that, too," he admitted. He set his tea cup down on the saucer and pushed them to the side. He clasped his hands together on the table and continued. "The hell that I put my son through after my wife, Abigail, left us. It's a wonder that he ever forgave me," he half-chuckled, half-scoffed.

"Abe ... your son," she whispered.

"He hauled my naked arse out of the river over and over and over," he said, patting one hand on the table.

"You couldn't help it that you died somehow," she told him.

"I KILLED myself over and over and over!" he exclaimed. "He was always there for me ... always ... ready to take care of me. Understanding, loyal, loving ... " Henry swallowed and blinked back tears. "I'm ashamed to admit it but it took me so long, too long, to realize how much pain I was putting him through. Abigail was his mother, after all. He'd lost her and had to deal with his own heartache all the while suddenly parenting me, his father!" he rasped in disgust with himself.

"You - I, I didn't know that," she said. "Somehow, I always see you as cool, calm, collected. You always seem to have everything under control, always seem to know exactly the right thing to do."

"Well, during that time, I totally failed my son." He scoffed. "I failed as a human being. A successful suicide would have only served to render him more heartache." He sighed and leaned back in his chair, resting his hands in his lap. "Part of earning someone's love is earning their trust," he told her. "They trust you to keep yourself safe so that you can be around to spend as much time, as much of your life with them as possible." He leaned forward and pointed a finger at her. "You are betraying their trust by treating your condition as some sort of unbelievable toy you've been gifted with."

"I don't - "

"Yes! Yes, you do," he told her. "You think that it's okay if you die because you'll come back." He leaned back again and tilted his head, squinting his eyes. "Do you feel the physical pain of ... leaving?"

"Sure," she replied. "It's scary and sometimes ... I think what if I don't come back this time? Do you think that way sometimes?"

"Every time," he admitted. "I also think how painful it must be for my friends and loved ones to even know about my various demises. Nobody knows about all of them."

"My parents are concerned that I broke my engagement to Shane," she told him. "Mom really knows something else is up but I don't have the courage to tell her." She laughed softly. "Hard to hide things from your Mom."

Henry swallowed again and pulled his lips in. "Do you plan to let anyone else know about your condition?"

"No." Leitha's response was quick and quiet.

He hadn't told anyone else in that first century after his transformation. Not after what Nora had done to him. None of his siblings or other relatives or friends knew of his condition. It was totally understandable that Leitha felt it necessary to keep her secret from her family and friends, as well. One thing he was certain of, though, is that if his own mother had been alive at the time, he would have told her. For that reason, he felt compelled to press the issue with her.

"Perhaps you should share your secret with your mother, at least," he told her. "It's totally your decision, I realize, but your mother could be a sobering influence on you. My own mother held the voice of reason throughout my life before her death in 1809 and before things drastically changed for me. If she had been alive, I would have told her." And she would have moved mountains to have him freed from the asylum that Nora had had him thrown into. Without a doubt, he believed that.

Since Leitha had recently chosen to abandon carrying a cell phone and Henry never really did, he would have to find a payphone outside of the building to make a call. Although it was getting late in the afternoon, he decided it was time to leave and return to the OCME. He thanked her for the tea and for her time, bid her farewell, and stood up to leave. Leitha seemed to be genuinely moved by their conversation and, he hoped, that what he'd told her had finally sunk in.

"Thank you, Dr. Morgan," she said. She then took him into a tight hug, closing her eyes. "And I'm truly sorry for all the trouble I've caused."

Henry hesitatingly returned the hug, patting her on the back with one hand, grateful that she finally seemed to be giving real consideration to his advice. He smiled and closed his eyes, telling her that she'd do just fine if she allowed things to settle down. She pulled away from the hug and smiled up at him.

"I must be off now," Henry told her. "Duty calls."

She walked him to the door and after he stepped out into the hallway, she pecked him on the cheek. Just at that moment, Shane entered the hallway from the elevator and stopped in his tracks at the sight of the woman he loved smooching with another man. An Immortal man. The same man that she had recently begun to think a better mate than he was since he would supposedly live forever like she would. Henry and Leitha turned to look at him and broke away from each other. Leitha waited at the open door for Shane. As Henry and Shane closed the distance between themselves, Henry became acutely aware of the look of anger in his eyes ... with a dash of jealousy and a sprinkling of betrayal. When they drew close to each other, Henry opened his mouth to speak to him. Shane hauled off and punched him in the eye, knocking him into the wall and almost off of his feet. Both men let out a painful yelp. Shane winced and grimaced as he held his hand and Leitha rushed up to him. As she gushed over him and guided him into the apartment and closed the door, Henry managed to right himself. His left eye was throbbing painfully and he saw the young couple disappear into the apartment without so much as a glance back at him. Ordinarily, he would have thought that a bad thing; but in this case, it meant that Leitha's love for and devotion to Shane had been renewed with that one punch. He smoothed his hair and his clothes down, adjusting his tie as he pushed the button for the elevator. He'd always been willing to take a bullet in order to protect others. In this case, it was a strong, right cross.


	4. Immortal Encounter Ch 4 Hostage Crisis

After his run-in with Shane and the growing discomfort of his eye, Henry had second thoughts about returning to work. Before hailing a cab, he purchased a chilled bottle of water from a taco truck and pressed it against his eye to alleviate the swelling and bruising. It just wouldn't do for anyone, especially Lucas, to see him in this condition.

"Bet that hurts," the cabbie remarked, viewing Henry's eye in the rearview mirror. "Hope you got in a few lucky punches of your own."

"No," he replied. "He took me completely by surprise with just one punch."

"Uh-huh," the cabbie replied. "Over a chick, right?" Henry resisted rolling his eyes because of the pain it would cause and remained silent. The male cabbie, a 50-ish recent arrival from Puerto Rico, laughed out loud. "Next time lead with your left!" He laughed some more and, thankfully, rolled up to the shop.

Henry paid the fare and quickly exited the cab. He closed his eyes, annoyed, when he heard the cabbie yell again for him to remember to lead with his left. He heard the cab drive off and he walked into the shop.

vvvv

Abe leaned against the doorjamb of his father's bedroom with his arms crossed as he watched his father hold an ice-filled hotwater bag against his eye. "Ofc. Shane, right?" Abe asked. Henry grunted his reply. Abe uncrossed his arms and walked closer to him. "Was just a matter of time," he said.

"So you've repeatedly said," Henry murmured. "One good thing came out of it. They seem to have reignited their flame of love for each other."

Abe leaned over him, encouraging him to remove the water bag from his eye. Abe whistled and stood upright. Henry pursed his lips and pressed the bag against his eye again. "I got just the thing for ya," Abe told him and produced a grey felt-covered eyeglass case from his pants pocket and opened it, handing it to Henry. "Try these on for size."

Henry took the case with his free hand and grinned at the sight of the pair of dark glasses inside of it. He gave Abe a 'really' look but placed the water bag down on the nightstand. He then gingerly put the glasses on, wincing a bit at the pressure against his injured eye. He looked up at Abe and raised both hands with his elbows tucked into his sides.

"Ben Affleck," Abe jokingly declared.

vvvv

Later on that afternoon, Jo called the shop to find out why Henry had not returned to work after his talk with Leitha. Abe informed her that Henry was unable to speak with her because he'd finally fallen asleep after having taken some pain pills.

"Pain pills?!" Jo asked, concerned. "Is he sick?"

"Eh, headache," Abe replied, realizing that he'd overspoken. "Trying to talk to that chick again, you know," he chuckled.

"Oh. Oh, yeah. Okay," Jo replied. "Well, guess I'll see him tomorrow morning at work. Bye, Abe." She ended the call, uneasy with her decision to wait until the next day to see and talk to Henry, but she turned her attention to completing some reports.

vvvv

Henry's office in the OCME, the next morning ...

"Henry, what the hell!?" Jo asked in a raised, angry voice when she'd urged him to remove his dark glasses.

"I'm perfectly fine, Jo," he told her, as he sat at his desk completing the form to release Mrs. Applegate's body to the funeral home chosen by her next of kin.

She left her standing position on the other side of his desk and quickly strode over to him where he sat. She leaned over him and reached a finger out to touch his eye but he grasped her hand to stop her, telling her again that he was fine. Jo straightened up and crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes. "He do that to you?"

Not much gets past the lovely detective, Henry thought to himself, prompting him to work against a smile. "There's no need to worry yourself about it, Detective," he told her as matter-of-factly as he could. "I can say with great certainty that between my heart-to-heart with Ms. Baxter and this," he said, pointing to his shiner, "things have finally settled down in their lives. Somewhat," he added." At least, he sincerely hoped so.

"Uh-huh," was all Jo said. She watched Henry leave his desk with the release form and walk out of his office up to Lucas at his workstation. The idea that Henry had done all that he could to help Leitha Baxter deal with her new status of being an Immortal, and he winds up with a black eye for his efforts did not sit well with her. Henry might be taking it all in stride but she wasn't. Not one little bit.

vvvv

Jo called McCaster's precinct, the 12th, and was told that he was off duty. She then wheeled her car over to his and Leitha's apartment. Arriving unannounced didn't bother her. She was a cop, after all, and showed up on doorsteps unannounced all the time. As she left her car and walked up the stairs to the entrance, a prepared speech underwent several rounds of editing in her mind. She buzzed their apartment and waited for a response. Nothing. She buzzed again and waited. Nothing. A tug at the door's handle yielded nothing, as well.

"Hey, sweet thing," a wolfish male voice sounded behind her. "If you punch in my code, I could do with some company." Jo slowly turned around to face the guy. A wide grin quickly vanished from the young man's face as he caught sight of the gold badge clipped to the waistband of her jeans. "Oh ... you're a cop. Look, uh ... I was just kidding, okay? Ya need to get inside, arrest someone?" He pushed his lips together and shook his head, shrugging. "Okay by me. Just ... let me ... " Jo stepped aside and waited while he nervously punched in his code. After the click, she grabbed the door handle again and opened the door. She never said a word to the blonde, prematurely balding young man in his 20's as he followed her to the elevator profusely apologizing to her.

"You're not gonna run me in for that, uh, little joke back there, are you?" he asked, laughing nervously.

"Not if you don't shut up," she calmly told him. He shrank from her, swallowing and bobbing his head up and down, reminding her a bit of Lucas. Young, awkward, just a little too overanxious around the opposite sex. When the elevator arrived, she got on and asked him if he was getting on, too.

"No. No. It's, uh, all yours, Officer."

"It's Detective," she calmly corrected him.

"Sorry! Detective. Detective! All, all yours," he nervously replied, shrinking further away from her as the doors closed.

Once alone on the elevator as it rose to Leitha's and Shane's floor, guilt fleetingly washed over her for putting the young man through the ringer like that. Maybe, she thought, it would teach him a lesson on how to properly approach a woman in the future. As soon as the elevator stopped and the doors opened, though, he left her mind, replaced by the young couple she had come to visit. When she arrived at their door, she knocked but there was no response. She was sure that she'd seen Shane's personal vehicle parked in front of the building, so someone must be home, she reasoned. Just when she began to kick herself for not getting their landline number from Henry, the door finally opened and Shane stood before her.

"Jo-Jo!" he heartily greeted her, his smile not reaching his eyes. "Leitha's not here. She'll be so sorry she missed you. I'll make sure she calls you as soon as she gets back." His bouyant attitude seemed very affected and calling her Jo-Jo? Nobody called her that. Ever. Her cop's instincts told her that Shane was lying. Or being forced to. Someone else was in the apartment with him, most likely threatening Leitha and him.

"Oh, wow," she replied, playing along with him. Hostage situation or home invasion, she told herself. "Tell her that I'll call her later about that, um, that thing we discussed earlier." Any thoughts about leaving to call for backup, left her when she saw a man step up behind Shane. The fake smile left Shane's face, replaced by a look of defeat and regret.

"C'mon in, Jo-Jo," the man smirkingly advised her. He stepped back, pulling Shane with him. "Get in here!" he hissed at her. Jo reluctantly stepped inside the apartment but maintained eye contact with the man, who apparently held a gun to Shane's back. "Close the door," the gunman instructed her.

She closed the door and asked, "What's going on?"

"Shut up!" the gunman shouted. "Lose the gun," he instructed her. She reluctantly removed her gun from its holster. "Realll slowww ... lay it on the floor." Jo, mentally kicking herself for not letting anyone know where she was, did as he'd instructed. He then shoved Shane over toward her and Leitha. Keeping his gun aimed on them, he bent down and retrieved her gun. Then he had Jo thread Shane's cuffs through the handle across the oven door. She then cuffed both of his hands. He wouldn't be able to break free without first obtaining the strength of Superman in order to haul the stove along with him. Unbeknownst to their captor, the oven handle frequently came loose and remained in place only by being gingerly handled. He exchanged a knowing look with Leitha, who was already cuffed in a similar fashion to the outjutting handle of the refrigerator door. The three captives knew that the only way she might be able to "break free" was to terminate her existence. Shane's knowing look assured her that that would not be necessary. Jo, aware of the wordless communication between the two, caught Shane's eye. He moved his gaze to Tip, then down to the oven handle. He looked back up at her to see if she understood. She bit her lower lip and answered him with an almost imperceptible nod.

"Nice little weapon," the gunman remarked, grinning, as he admired Jo's gun. "Nicer than his," he said, nodding to Shane.

_'Shane's gun,' _Jo ruefully realized. _'How did that scumbag manage to - ?' _

"It was lying on the coffee table," Shane told her with as much regret as she felt over having walked into this situation. They watched the gunman put Shane's in his pocket and gleefully handle hers, aiming it at them.

"What do you want?" Jo demanded of the gunman.

"Last I looked, this ain't even your place," he barked at her. "So you don't call the shots here! This does," he told her, shaking the gun a bit. He then narrowed his eyes at her and furrowed his brow. "Say, I recognize you." His eyes opened back up but the anger darkened on his face. "You're one of those cops who put the hook on my girlfriend."

Jo didn't like where this was going but she said nothing.

"Daneika Carter," the gunman clarified. "She's innocent. The charges against her should be dropped."

"All I do is follow the evidence and make the collar," Jo explained. "It's up to the DA to bring any charges and make them stick."

"She (pointing the gun to Leitha) ID'd her and you guys arrested her. Dannie's innocent."

"Okay, she's innocent," Jo said in an attempt to get control of the situation. "What do you think I can do for her at this point?"

"Call ... whoever and tell 'em to release her!"

"At whose request?" Jo countered. "And based on what evidence?"

The gunman swallowed and adjusted his grip on the gun and ran his hand across his mouth. "Tip Randolph. I'm her - she didn't know anything about what I, we were doing, okay? She's a nice person with a good heart. She, she trusted me and I let her down." He swallowed again before adding, "Again. Asked her to make a few runs for me; pick up a few meds for ... people. She just got tagged at the end. None of this is her fault. It's all mine."

"Look, Tip - can I call you Tip?" Jo asked, her negotiating skills kicking in. "My name's actually Jo." He only replied that if it would help Dannie, call him anything she wanted. Secretly, she called him a stupid jerk but she managed a slight smile and nodded, continuing. "Alright, then, I need to make a call. I'm gonna get my cell phone out of my pocket and make that call right now."

"Okay, b-but no tricks," Tip warned her. "Make sure you keep it on speaker so I can hear everything." She nodded and slowly retrieved her cell phone and made the call to Reece.

vvvv

Henry, dark glasses in place, had decided to visit Jo in the bullpen and share some of his misgivings on the Applegate case. Instead, he'd found her desk empty and himself summoned into the Lieutenant's office. He traded space with a half dozen unis running past him and out of the bullpen toward the elevators. He walked into the office and joined Mike and two other detectives, Percy and Simms, as they listened intently to Reece converse through the speakerphone with Jo and an unidentified male shouting orders in the background.

"Has anyone been hurt?" Reece asked. She stood over the phone with her fists pressed into the top of her desk, her head bowed and the most serious look of concern on her face.

("Not yet!" Tip yelled a reply).

("We're unharmed, Lieu," Jo calmly confirmed).

Reece loudly requested to hear from the other two captives. Both Leitha and Shane replied loudly enough that they were cuffed but unharmed. "The new evidence you have provided has been shared with the DA," Reece said. There was no need to trace the call since they already knew where the three were being held but she still needed to buy time until responders could arrive and position themselves in and around the building.

("I want Dannie - Danieka Carter released. Now!" Tip yelled).

"She's being released as we speak," Reese replied.

("I wanna hear her voice!" Tip yelled).

"We're handling everything as quickly as we can," Reece replied. "And there's no need for you to yell. We can hear you perfectly fine. Just try to calm down and ... be patient, please." She looked at Mike and mouthed 'When?'. He held up ten fingers to indicate ten minutes. Reece shook her head while scribbling a note that read "Patch her through" then handing it to Mike. He quickly read it then darted out of her office. "Give us a few more minutes. She's being processed out."

("I'm not going anywhere," Tip replied. "And neither are they.")

Reece closed her eyes and sat down in her chair. "Do you have any other demands?" she asked.

"Demands," Tip repeated. "Well, a pizza and six-pack of cola would be nice but I don't think I have enough time to wait for it. I need to hear Dannie's voice in the next 60 seconds or it's gonna get a bit ugly in here."

"Sixty sec - ?!" Henry blurted out before checking himself. He pursed his lips and ran a hand over his dark curls, eyeing an apology to Reece.

Reece eyed him and calmly replied, "We need more than a minute. Five, at least." She kept her eyes on Henry, who drew his lips in and lowered his gaze to his feet. Mike ran in with a cell phone already on speaker and handed it to Reece and ran out. She placed it near the deskphone' speaker and told Dannie to begin speaking to Tip.

"Tip? Tip? What are you doing? They say you took some people hostage?" Her voice was strained, frantic, as the squad car she rode in brought her closer to Leitha's and Shane's apartment.

Henry left Reece's office and caught up with Mike just as he reached the elevators. "Guns and badges, Doc," Mike hurriedly told him as he stepped into the elevator. Henry jumped into the elevator with him. "You can't come with me, Doc!"

"I most certainly am, Detective!" Henry adamantly replied, crossing his arms. "It's because of me that Jo went over there in the first place. She's risking her life for me, I am most definitely going to do all I can to help her out of this."

Mike shook his head but rode the elevator down and he and Henry ran out of the building, jumped in his car and sped towards the apartment.

vvvv


	5. Immortal Encounter Ch 5 Crisis Ended

Summary: Danieka Carter's boyfriend, Tip Randolph, has taken Jo, Leitha, and Shane hostage in the couple's apartment. He claims that Danieka is innocent and he is the one who escaped the dragnet when the opioid gang was arrested.

Reece dispatches Mike and a team of backup to the apartment. Henry ignores the directive that excludes him, not being a law enforcement officer, and defiantly joins them.

Short chapter but I wanted to get it posted before the mandatory, rolling power outages occurred here in my city in CA.

vvvv

_"Tip? Tip? What are you doing? They say you took some people hostage?" Danieka's voice was strained, frantic, as the squad car she rode in brought her closer to Leitha's and Shane's apartment. _

("Trying to help you," Tip replied. "You didn't know anything about what me and the others were doing with those old peoples' meds and all." He spoke more loudly as if also addressing the unseen ears of Reece and any other NYPD personnel.)

_"Whoever else is listening in, Tip had nothing to do with any of this," Danieka replied in the same manner. "He's just trying to protect me." _

("Dannie, just be quiet and let me do this!" Tip shouted.)

_"There's no helping me, Tip," she replied, her voice softened with sadness. "I did it for the money. I needed the money." _

("No, Dannie - I'm tryin' to do something good for you for once! Let me, please!")

_"Not this way, Tip." She paused, swallowing. "Not this way," she softly repeated. _

The patrolwoman driving the squad car with Danieka in it, informed Reece that they had arrived at the apartment building. Reece instructed them to position themselves and their prisoner/passenger as they normally would for a Code 10 (hostage) situation but wait for Det. Hanson before moving in.

("She's lying!" Tip yelled, jarring Reece's attention back to him).

_"No! He's lying!" Danieka yelled back. "I knew what I was doing. I was trying to help my aunt and uncle. They took Mom and me in after my Dad died. They were behind in their mortgage and - " _

("Dammit, Dannie!" Tip loudly interrupted her.)

Reece wanted to jump into the conversation because it appeared to turn the young man's chivalrous but misguided attempt at exonerating his girlfriend into confirmation of her guilt. Instead, she kept those thoughts to herself feeling that it was the best way to keep Tip distracted. Mike had texted her that he had arrived and was leading the backup unit into the building. She kept an ear on the star-crossed lovers' conversation and on her laptop that fed the images from the body cams worn by Mike and the backup team of unis, thankful not to see or hear their ME, Henry. Hopefully, he was staying put outside. Hopefully.

("You still there, Lieutenant?" Tip asked. "Don't ... don't believe her, she doesn't know what she's saying.")

"Yes, I'm still here," Reece calmly replied, wishing that she was there on the scene with Mike and the others. "As I told you before, the DA has been notified with what you've shared and Danieka's been released. She's outside the apartment building as we speak. We've kept our word." She paused for Tip to reply but he didn't. Instead, she heard what sounded like coughing or gagging in the background. "What's happening?" she demanded. "Sounds like someone's in distress."

One of the voices talking over each other in the background sounded like Jo's. It sounded like she was urging Tip to uncuff Leitha because she was having some sort of seizure. Then Shane explaining that it was the reason Leitha had resigned from the police force. Reece again demanded to know what was going on.

("They're tryin' to bluff me," Tip shouted. "It's not gonna work. She's not really sick.")

There was a clambering sound as if someone had fallen. Shane cried out Leitha's name at the same time, pleading with Tip that she needed medical help. Jo loudly informed her boss that Leitha had fainted.

_"Tip! Tip! Let those people go!" Danieka begged him. "If you really want to help me, this isn't the way to do it! Haven't enough people been hurt by us already?" _

("Okay, okay," Tip replied, the uncertainty in his voice pointing to his growing anxiety. "You," he said to Jo. "Uncuff her and drag her over to the sofa.") Jo replied that she didn't have the strength to handle her alone. "Fine, I'll take care of her. Just uncuff her. No funny stuff," he warned Jo.)

Reece heard what sounded like cuffs being unlocked. At the same time, Mike's body cam showed that he and the backup team were in the hallway outside of the apartment. Their weapons drawn, they made eye contact with and nodded to each other before a uni kicked the door in and they swarmed into the apartment.

Moments earlier, Tip had edged closer to Jo as she uncuffed Leitha's wrists, careful to not let her arms flop down and gently guided her limp body down onto the floor. She closed her eyes and grimaced when Tip instructed her to cuff herself to the refrigerator door handle. It meant she wouldn't be of much help to Shane in overpowering Tip as he cautiously edged closer to Leitha. Jo and Shane noticed that Tip felt confident enough to lay the gun down on the coffee table before attempting to lift Leitha. He was both unarmed and close enough to Shane for him to make his move.

Just as Shane readied to free himself by yanking the loose handle off of the oven door, Leitha's eyes flew open. Her police training kicked in and she stomped down hard on his instep, elbowed him in the ribs, and flipped him over her shoulder onto the floor. She grabbed the gun he'd lain on the table and leveled it at Tip as he lay sprawled and dazed on the floor. Just then, Mike and the unis burst into the apartment, their guns drawn. Mike quickly assessed the situation and instructed Leitha to surrender the weapon, which she did. While Jo and Shane were being uncuffed, he informed Reece that the perp was in custody and the hostage situation had ended without incident.

Shane quickly advanced to Leitha and they embraced. Jo filled Mike in on what had transpired prior to his arrival as Tip was Mirandized and led out in cuffs.

"Officer McCaster," Mike began. "We'll need a statement from you and Ms. Baxter." Shane nodded, still embracing Leitha, who rested her forehead on his shoulder with her eyes closed.

"She saved us," Jo stated with a smile. "All by herself. She's a hero."

Leitha opened her eyes and raised her head. She looked at Jo then at Shane. A smile worked its way onto her face and she said, "It was instinct. Just did what I had to do to ... "

" ... apprehend a suspect," Jo finished for her. "Good work, Officer Baxter," she told her.

"I ... I'm not on the force anymore," Leitha replied, lowering her head a bit.

"Oh. Well. Might wanna rethink that," Jo told her.

Once outside their apartment, Mike frowned and voiced his disapproval to Jo. "Don't give her any ideas," he warned her through clenched teeth.

"Better to have her in uniform than have her skulking up and down alleyways in a ridiculous costume hunting up perps on her own." Mike merely scratched his head and grunted as they made their way out of the building.

They were met outside with Henry. To say that he look frazzled was to put it mildly. He took in and released a deep sigh of relief at the sight of Jo unharmed. He was grateful that everyone had emerged from the situation unharmed but Jo's safety was uppermost in his mind. The last time she'd seen that look on Henry's face, she'd just survived crashing her car into a water barrier on a stretch of the Henry Hudson Parkway in order to escape from a crooked Det. Dunn.

"You're all right?" Henry asked breathlessly, his eyes widened and brows raised as he and Jo drew near to each other.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But thanks for asking," Mike jokingly replied. They both snapped their heads in his direction. "Oh. You mean ... her. My bad." He walked over to his car chuckling.

They both fought against the urge to laugh. Laugh at themselves and how obvious it had become to others just how much they cared about each other.

"What are you doing here, Henry?" Jo asked him. Before he could form a reply, she walked over to her own car and opened the door.

"Well, I was worried about, ah, how the situation might unfold and - "

"Um-hmm. And I'm sure you were told guns and - "

"Yes, yes, guns and badges but since it was my fault that you were here in the first place - "

"I am a trained professional, Henry." He'd ridden over with Mike but joined Jo in her car without either of them thinking about it. They buckled up and Jo began driving back to the precinct.

"As am I," he contended.

"You know what I mean," she said. She glanced at him and pointed out, "Forgot to wear your dark glasses." Startled, he reached his hand up to his face, his fingers brushing against bare skin around his eyes. She moved one of her hands from the steering wheel and patted his hand. Returning her hand to the steering wheel, she smiled and said, "But it was sweet of you to come. Thank you."

He settled back into his seat as she motored them toward the precinct.

Notes:

Information on Police Codes for crimes/situations found at /ten-codes/

Slight reference to "Forever" TV show S01/E13 episode Diamonds Are Forever


	6. Immortal Encounter Ch 6 Facing Reece

_"Good work, Officer Baxter," Jo told Leitha._

_"I ... I'm not on the force anymore," she replied, lowering her head a bit._

_"Oh. Well. Might wanna rethink that," Jo advised. _

vvvv

Danieka Carter's admission of guilt appeared to cement the reason for the charges she faced and she was returned to lockup in the 11th Precinct. Her boyfriend, Tip Randolph, joined her there with his own charges including unlawful imprisonment in the first degree, a Class E felony; and using a gun in the commission of a crime. Two police guns. Shane's and then Jo's.

Jo poised her pencil over the report form, trying to figure out how to word the darn thing. How was she going to explain why she had gone to the couple's apartment in the first place without drawing any unwanted attention to Henry? Walked right into a hostage situation just like an unsuspecting rookie and without backup. Oh, this was harder than she'd imagined, this lying to help him hide in plain sight.

"That's quite a shiner the Doc has," Mike commented. "Ya know, you coulda found a way to give a less violent response if you didn't wanna go out with him," he chortled but he swallowed his laughter when met with her tired glare. "Okay, bad humor. But how did he get it?"

"Why didn't you ask him, yourself?" she replied, bouncing a question back at him. "I wasn't around when he got it." Almost immediately, she regretted the words that had just escaped her. Hanson was so curious that he just might question Henry about that black eye. Shoot! It was actually Henry's own fault for having tried to "mentor" Leitha on how to deal with their mutual conditions. But, she conceded, he was just being Henry. Always helpful, always prone to do the right thing. She laughed to herself at how his gentlemanly ways so often got him into trouble.

And then there was the fact that his injury was the result of her fellow officer's assault. She reluctantly realized that she had to cover for Shane, too, in the process of covering for Henry. For that matter, the three of them had to be on the same page. Especially since Shane and Leitha were expected to give separate statements. She groaned at the further realization that even though her statement had to jive with those given by the young couple, the _four_ of them had to be on the same page in case anyone questioned Henry on how he'd obtained his shiner. Details, details, details, she groaned inwardly. But whatever it took to help Henry keep his secret, she told herself with resolve, she was willing to do it.

vvvv

Leitha's and Shane's apartment later on that evening ...

"Alright, we all got our stories straight?" Jo asked her three companions, Henry, Leitha, and Shane. They all replied with affirmative nods. "Great." A deep sigh was released from her and she then shifted her gaze to lock with Leitha's. "And remember ... discretion is the better part of valor." Leitha closed her eyes and smiled, nodding and understanding that she should cool it before someone found out about her condition. Otherwise, she should expect a periodic punch in the nose or worse from Jo.

As Henry and Jo walked down the hallway toward the elevator, Henry told her, "I'm impressed, Detective." Jo punched the elevator call button and raised a curious eyebrow to him. "Shakespeare," he clarified. "You quoted a line from one of the bard's plays in which the character, Falstaff, actually said, "The better part of valor is discretion. Over the centuries, the line has become acceptably mis-, ah ... has become quoted differently from the way it was originally written."

"Thanks for the lecture, Henry," she dryly remarked as they entered the elevator.

"Oh, please don't take it the wrong way, Detective," he began. "Your quote served to remind me that I am sorely behind the times and will need a little help to ... bring me up to speed on modern sayings and practices."

"Okay," she replied, grinning. "I'll be glad to help you un-stiffen that upper lip of yours." Her grin widened as she licked her lower lip.

He lowered his head but kept his eyes locked with hers. "I shall very much look forward to that."

During the car trip to the antiques shop, Jo asked Henry what had made him forget to keep his glasses on so that no one would have seen his injury.

He flopped a hand up then down. "I ... ," he paused, shaking his head and pursing his lips. "I was so worried about you - and the others, too - that I snatched them off when the gunman threatened to harm you if he did not hear Danieka Carter's voice in 60 seconds." He huffed out a quick sigh, realizing only then why Lt. Reece had stared so pointedly at him. "I simply forgot about my black eye."

Jo's cheek muscles worked against a smile. "Worried about me, were you?" she asked teasingly.

A soft smile began to grow on his face. "Truth be told, Detective - Jo - because of the nature of your work, I do worry quite often about you. Usually, I manage to keep those thoughts at the back of my mind. But in that particular moment, when I thought that we might not have enough time to meet the gunman's demand - "

"It's okay, Henry," she told him, patting his hand. "Don't beat yourself up over it. You're only human ... just like the rest of us." She pulled up and parked across the street from the antiques shop. "I appreciate your concern, though," she gently admitted.

vvvv

The next morning was spent debriefing Lt. Reece on the case involving their victim, Mrs. Appleby, their main suspect, Danieka Carter, and the rest of the opioid gang.

"Everyone's statements seem to all be in order," Reece quietly stated as she rested a hand on top of the documents. "Nothing like brainstorming to get all of your ducks in a row, right?" She moved her hand over to her other and clasped them together, bouncing her gaze between Henry and Jo.

"I always say that I know everything that goes on in my precinct," she started, "but some things do escape me. Not much," she quickly added. "And other things I choose to ... pretend ... didn't happen." She closed the file that included the statements and clasped her hands again, releasing a deep sigh. "I am much easier to work with when I'm happy. My happiness level is closely connected to my high level of awareness of what goes on in my precinct," she calmly explained to them.

"Now. Please help to keep me happy by adding to my high awareness level." She directed her quiet, friendly request - really an order - to her now nervous detective and ME.

Hanson, though feeling lucky that Reece's "request" seemed not to include him, had his own burning questions about the couple's odd behavior at times. This case was just the latest of many during which their behavior had convinced him that they were hiding something. Something connected to Henry. Still, he felt if anyone could get anything out of them, his boss could. And he was sure that they'd be more willing to open up to her if he were not there. He caught Reece's eye and asked, "You ... need me for anything, Lieu?" She replied in the negative with a slight smile and he left her office.

Her attention returned to the un-official partners sitting on the other side of her desk. Her expression softened a bit but determination remained in both her eyes and her demeanor. "Is there something either of you wish to share with me regarding your secretive behavior during this case and some ones before this?" she asked.

It wasn't a demand, they both thought to themselves, so that gave them an out. Henry realized that he could refuse to share anything with her regarding Jo's help to keep his secret without repurcussions other than possibly being forbidden to join in field investigations again. Jo, however, had little wriggle room when it came to responding to her boss' "requests". She had put her career, her life, on the line for him more than once. He couldn't allow her to lose the respect and confidence of her boss.

"It was all a misunderstanding," he found himself saying. He explained how Leitha had visited the shop while off duty and how they had struck up a friendship based on their mutual interests in antiques and their respective jobs involving crime solving. "When I found out that she had resigned from law enforcement, I tried to be there for her - and her fiancee, Ofc. McCaster - as a friend. While leaving their apartment after my last visit to convince Ms. Baxter to cease her vigilante activities, I was attacked in the hallway by a man who had mistaken me for his wife's lover." Henry maintained eye contact with the Lieutenant. Had to in order to make this lie stick.

"You were attacked?" Reece asked, concerned. "Why didn't you report it? Let's find the bum!"

"I was completely taken by surprise," he replied. "I'm afraid I can't give much of a description that would help in his capture. Besides, he did apologize once he realized his mistake." Well ... that was kinda true. Now.

Reece settled back in her chair, resting her chin on her thumb and pressing a finger into her cheek. She quietly studied Henry then lowered her hand and looked at Jo. "You went over to their apartment to ... " Her voice trailed off as she reopened the file and picked up Jo's statement.

"To talk to Leitha about the same thing," Jo finished for her, recalling what she'd put in her own report. Talk to Leitha. And Shane. Punch 'em both out. Knock some sense into them. And walked into a trap. "Instead, I found myself caught up in their hostage situation." She shrugged apologetically, pressing her lips together.

The Lieutenant eyed both of them for a few moments and then placed Jo's statement back into the folder and closed it. "Well, everything seems to have worked out in the end." She rose from her seat and they did, as well, although with weak-kneed stances. "Let's get the case against Danieka Carter wrapped up for the DA. Also, get that Randolph guy processed for them. The sooner we wrap up these cases, the sooner all the other victims' families can have closure." The twosome nodded and began to walk out of her office.

"Oh, and Doctor; ice packs are good for a beauty like that. Also, massage the heck out of it to minimize bruising," she advised him.

Massage. Hmmm. "Thank you for that sound medical advice, Lieutenant," he replied, smiling.

"You're welcome. And you might pass that on to the guy who hit you," she said as she sat back down in her chair and began sorthing through an unopened pile of mail. "Bruised knuckles don't wear well with police uniforms." She felt them pause at the door but kept her attention on the mail. Once she heard the door close, her gaze trailed up and over to the spot where they'd just been standing.

Finally outside of the Lieutenant's office, Henry and Jo released their tension through deep breathing. They exchanged a look and a nervous chuckle as they headed for her desk.

"Think she knows?" Jo whispered to him.

"Oh, absolutely," Henry whispered back. "She does seem to know everything that passes in her precinct."

"Well, not everything," Jo pointed out.

"Hopefully," Henry added.

vvvvvvvvvvvv

Notes:

Information on New York penal codes found at ?zoom_highlight=hostage

The discretion and valor quote and information about it found at famous-shakespeare-quotes/discretion

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Apologies once again for the short chapter but I wanted to get this up and start work on the final chapter. I hope to have that up by the end of the week. Thank you all for your continued interest and patience. Reviews, critiques, suggestions, always welcome.


	7. Immortal Encounter Ch 7 END

_"Think she knows?" Jo whispered to Henry as they walked out of Reece's office and toward her own desk. _

_"Oh, absolutely," Henry whispered back, recalling the Lieutenant's words only moments ago. _

_**["Bruised knuckles don't wear well with police uniforms," Reece had said.]**_

_"She does seem to know everything that passes in her precinct," he added. _

_"Well ... not everything," Jo pointed out. _

_"Hopefully," Henry further added. _

vvvv

Danieka Carter was able to plead to a lesser charge as a result of her "naming names" and would serve only a few months as opposed to several years. The DA's office determined from her testimony and that of her cohorts, that Tip Randolph was actually never involved in any of their crimes. However, because of his own prior convictions, he was now a three-striker facing life in prison with another conviction.

"How ironic," Henry began. "Ms. Carter, admittedly part of a heartless gang of opioid thieves that took advantage of mostly elderly people, is now facing a minimal incarceration period while her boyfriend, who tried to heroically sacrifice his own freedom for hers, is now facing a possible life sentence." He paused for a moment then added, "Even though the outcome of their two fates was as he had hoped, still, ironic. And ... doesn't seem quite fair."

"Life isn't fair, Henry," Jo dryly remarked. "She simply took advantage of one hole in the system and he fell into another."

"Yes," he said with a suppressed sigh, "I suppose you're right. At least the vigilante who has recently plagued our investigations has agreed to retire."

"Thank God!" Jo said, rolling her eyes up and then down. She noticed Henry giving her a certain look again. One that spoke to an inner battle about whether or not to question her about something. She had a pretty good idea, though, of what was on his mind. "Spit it out, Henry."

They were standing outside the precinct, a long day behind them. He hesitated a moment before replying but wisely chose not to comment about her use of the term "spit". "What prompted your decision to visit them after I had?" he finally asked her.

Even though it was a question she'd expected, she wasn't quite sure if she should answer it. The truth might only serve to swell his head even more than it already was. "I ... simply went there to have a talk with both of them, myself," she offered.

"And your decision had nothing to do with how I obtained my black eye," he stated in a knowing way, his left cheek pulling up into a half-smile.

"At the risk of feeding your already swelled ego, yes," she admitted. "I'm not sure who I wanted to punch out more: Shane or Leitha." She stifled a laugh at the look on his face. "Henry, it's not an insult. You are one of the few people alive who is entitled, even expected to have an ego as large as yours." She smiled as his good humor appeared to return.

"Detective, you are probably only one of the few people alive who could insult me in this way and leave me wanting for more."

They silently stared at each other, a not entirely uncomfortable and delightful warmth began settling in and around them, their heartrates rising. It was useless to deny any longer that they had become more than just friends and the time had come for them to explore what that really meant. With his smiling eyes still penetrating into hers, he suggested they go somewhere. Quick. Just the two of them. She pointed feebly to her car and he grabbed her hand and eagerly pulled her over to it. Once they were inside and driving away from the precinct, she asked him "Where to?" He responded that it didn't matter. That he'd follow her anywhere.

Lucas had exited the precinct just as Henry had pulled Jo over to her car. He watched them as they got in and he grinned insanely at the looks on their faces. Oh! His favorite couple goin' off somewhere to git it on, he hoped. Yes!

"Wipe that silly grin off your face," Hanson told him as he joined him in front of the precinct. "I already collected on 'em starting to date."

"Well, date, okay, but not on witnessing them gettin' ready to - " He paused, his head bobbing at Hanson.

Hanson scoffed and walked towards his car, fishing his keys out of his pocket and shaking his head. "That should never have been part of the pool. I don't wanna know anything about that! Their business!" He stood on the other side of the car before getting in and looked at a now somewhat embarrassed Lucas.

"Uh, you ... you're right, none of our business," Lucas admitted. "But still great to know that they finally, _finally_ realize that they are a long overdue item." He looked in the direction that they had driven off in and sniffled. "Now I know how parents must feel when they send their kids off to college." He sniffled again, bringing his fist up to his mouth, biting on his index finger. "I'm so proud of them."

Hanson rolled his eyes and started to get into the car, then stopped. "We can, uh, catch the rest of the game over at that new pizza place on West 83rd." Lucas' fake sniffles abruptly subsided. "C'mon, get in before I change my mind," he urged him, waving him into the car.

Lucas got in and buckled his seatbelt. "Thanks, Detective, er, Mike." As they drove toward the restaurant, Lucas asked why Mike was being so buddy-buddy with him now.

"Guess it's because we're going through the same thing what with Jo and the Doc becoming a fullfledged couple. We're empty nesters now."

Lucas nodded in serious agreement. "Yeah. They're off to have new experiences that won't include us." After a few more moments of introspective silence, Lucas said, "So, there's that new detective in your group who kinda, maybe has the hots for that Assistant DA chick. Think they'll get together?"

"Nah, not them," Mike replied. "Let's not get into anymore betting on people's love lives."

"Hey, there are more people in the DA's office than in the OCME to add boo-koo bucks to a pool," Lucas pointed out. "Bigger payoffs."

Mike hesitated a second or two, then said, "More people, huh?" Lucas nodded. "Bigger payoffs?" Lucas nodded again. Mike sighed loudly then announced, "Okay, I'm in." Here we go again, he thought.

vvvv

Over the next few weeks, Leitha and Shane discussed the possibility of her requesting to be reinstated with the NYPD; and their wedding plans were back on. It was a much brighter atmosphere in their small apartment lately. But would the cost of replacing uniforms, guns, handcuffs, cell phones and the like should she demise even once more be worth it? Her dream since the age of 15 to be a member of the greatest police force in the country might have to remain forfeited, she realized.

vvvv

Six months later ...

The romance between a prized ME and an equally prized lady detective was still on the tongues of many of their colleagues as it progressed at a snail's pace to each new level. But, at least, they acknowledged that it was progressing. The betting pool previously set up with top prizes that included their first kiss and first date, had been retooled to include their engagement, wedding, and honeymoon. The fact that Henry and Jo had found out about the updated pool from one of the building's custodians both relieved Lucas (since it wasn't him) and dismayed him (since part of the fun was his favorite ship not knowing about it).

"One would think that a group of supposed mature adults charged with solving some of the most heinous crimes would find more important ways to occupy their time," a mildly irritated Henry disparaged as he held a copy of the pool, frowning at it.

"What can I say, Henry," Jo said, smiling softly through her own irritation. "Gambling has long been one of the favorite pastimes of mere mortals."

"Snooping," Henry added as a correction.

"Awww, let 'em have their dream," Jo urged him, pressing her smile onto his lips. His own, lop-sided smile emerged. "We are actually living the dream."

"Please don't ever let me wake up," he whispered. They deepened the kiss, taking advantage of the lunch hour that had temporarily emptied the morgue beyond his office door.

They could further relax from knowing that Leitha and Shane were now newlyweds and she had recently returned to the NYPD in a civilian capacity, that of Police Communications Technician, fielding 911 calls. This not only kept her out of uniform and out of harm's way as a street cop and, as a result, considerably fewer "river runs" for her and Shane. But her position also allowed her to remain in public service. It also kept her too busy and fulfilled to fight crimes on her own. Vigilantism officially dead. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

"911 Police Operator 1866. What is your emergency?" Leitha asked the required, scripted question upon answering her latest call. She listened to the caller report a wrong-way driver on the Henry Hudson. The description of the car sounded very familiar. The description of the male driver and his female passenger were also very familiar. The memory of a gunshot that had ended her mortal life only months earlier and signaled the beginning of her new life as an Immortal, came back to her. She fought against reacting to hearing about her killer and his complicit companion. After several months of Henry's mentoring, she now knew that she had to remain committed to doing her job responsibly. Even if it meant that her killer would probably get nothing more than a traffic citation for his latest infraction. Only she and Shane knew that they'd witnessed the man's capital crime against her. But they both also knew they had to remain silent about it. It was the price they were willing to pay in order to keep her secret.

Leitha swallowed back her emotions and dispatched the call as she had been trained to do and focused immediately on the next call from a frantic woman reporting a fire in her hoarder neighbor's home. _'Hoarder? Fire? Yikes!'_

Notes:

Information on civilian jobs such as Police Communications Technician with the NYPD found at .

**Author's Notes: **

Thank you, everyone, for following along with this little fic, for your comments and kudos. This didn't "go" exactly as I had first imagined but hope you like it and this last chapter.


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